


Finding a Home

by ceebeedub



Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-12
Updated: 2015-06-12
Packaged: 2018-04-04 03:12:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,648
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4123611
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ceebeedub/pseuds/ceebeedub
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Post 1x21: Oliver and Felicity have a conversation after Walter is rescued.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Finding a Home

Felicity turned in her chair to greet Oliver when she heard his now-familiar step coming down the stairs. “How’s Mr. Steele?” she asked as she stood.

Oliver’s face broke open in a full blown smile and Felicity tried to recall if she’d ever seen it do that before. 

“He’s great. He stayed at the hospital overnight as a precaution but besides having lost some weight he looks all good. He’s home now.”

Felicity beamed back at him. “I’m so glad for your family, Oliver.”

They smiled at each other for a moment before a crease appeared between Oliver’s eyebrows. “Can I ask you something, Felicity?” She nodded in reply and he continued, “You said… when you joined what this is we’re doing down here, you said Walter was nice to you. Is that… I just have a hard time believing that isn’t always the case.”

Felicity dipped her head and replied “You didn’t technically ask a question.” She looked back up at him and furrowed her brow, considering how much she wanted to tell him, but the intensity of his eyes on hers as he waited was a little too distracting and a little too much, so she dropped her chin again. “I grew up with a single mom who worked as a cocktail waitress. She worked hard but money was always kind of tight. In high school I didn’t have the right clothes or go to the right parties or say the right things. And I cared a lot about my school work. I was an easy target.” She looked up and waved her hand around dismissively. “You know how it is in high school. Well, actually I’d put my money on you being Prom King so maybe you don’t know how it can be.”

He blushed a little – she was right about Prom King – and he felt a pang of shame for his own behaviour in high school. “Okay but what about university?”

She laughed out loud at that. “Oliver, I graduated with my Masters from MIT when I was 20. Not to toot my own horn but I was a girl who was younger and smarter than pretty much everyone there. Plus I do that whole thing where I start talking and then I just don’t stop talking… You know how I do. It’s just not a combination that has made me a lot of friends.”

Oliver felt another wave of shame over his wasted university years. Truth be told he went to far more parties than lectures which is something he deeply regretted now with all the pressure from his mom to get involved in Queen Consolidated despite having literally no qualifications to do so. He’s not even really qualified to run the club. Well the business part, anyway. The “how to have a good time” part was something he knew well. 

Felicity turned back to her chair following Oliver’s silence and a thought occurred to him. “Felicity, you’re way too smart to be doing basic IT for Queen Consolidated. Why do they have you troubleshooting problems your average 16 year old could fix?”

Felicity turned very slowly back to him and when he saw her face he was surprised to see the deep red flush on her cheeks. “It’s… I’ve got to pay my dues. I’m just keeping my head down and doing my job and blocking everything else out for now.” 

She fidgeted and avoided meeting his eye and Oliver pressed. “What do you mean you’re blocking everything out? Is everything okay at work?”

She looked up at him and said quickly, “It’s fine. Everything’s fine, it’s just… how it is for women, unfortunately. Oliver Queen and Walter Steele come to me with their problems…I’m very, very junior and my boss thinks it should be him doing favours for the Queen family and it just kind of leaves me open to a lot of jokes about my ‘position’ within the company.”

Oliver’s face grew dark and his fingers twitched as she talked.

“Oliver, really, I know it’s shitty, but I can’t exactly tell them all you come to see me because I’m helping your vigilante cause and Mr. Steele inadvertently gave me a bunch of information. And even if none of that were the case, my boss is one of those guys who is just always going to be mad that I’m smarter than he is.”

She held her head high, and Oliver couldn’t help a small smile. She wasn’t bragging but she was proud of herself, as she should be. He was still gonna go in there and fire all their asses tomorrow. Or tell Walter to, anyway. Oliver wasn’t entirely sure if having his surname on the top of the building gave him firing powers there. Or he could always let the Hood deal with them.

Felicity relaxed shoulders and smiled, knowing what the dark expression on his face meant. “Don’t make Mr. Steele fire them. That won’t actually help my case. At all. It’s bullshit and I hate it, but I know I’m smarter than all those guys and they’re going to be working for me one day. And I know I’ve helped people in a real way because I’m here, working with you. I wouldn’t change anything.”

Oliver nodded, still determined to at least have a chat with Walter about the IT department, and took two steps to stand in front of Felicity. “You got Walter home.” 

She grinned up at him and replied, “You did the hard work.”

“No.” He shook his head. “My part was easy. Anyone who knows how to fight could have done that. I never would have noticed that payment or known where to find him. He’d still be missing if it weren’t for you.”

Felicity beamed and said, “It feels good.”

“What does?” Oliver quirked an eyebrow.

“Well, getting Mr. Steele back, but more than that. Feeling sort of like part of a team.” 

“You are part of a team. You are invaluable to this team. Being smarter than everyone in the room and that whole thing where you talk… we need that. We need you.”

Felicity’s eyes were suspiciously watery but she laughed and asked, “Really? Even the talking thing?”

Oliver smiled and answered, “You may have noticed I tend to brood. Diggle appreciates a little levity down here.” He ducked his head and huffed a laugh before continuing, “So do I.”

She took a step forward and wrapped her arms around his neck. It took Oliver by surprise – it was the first time they had hugged and he was startled to realize how small she was and how much he liked the way she fit against his body. He rested his hands on her back and gave her a gentle squeeze.

“Thank you,” Felicity said softly.

“Thank you,” Oliver returned. She pulled away and he brought his hands up to her shoulders. He furrowed his brow, trying to find the words he wanted. “I’m sorry… You haven’t known people who see your value. It’s their loss.” She looked up to meet his eyes, checking and double-checking the sincerity of his words, and he gave her shoulders a little squeeze – a silent confirmation that he meant what he said. She nodded and returned to her chair; Oliver pressed his palms against his thighs, trying to shake off the sudden urge to touch her again.

“One more thing, actually.”

Felicity turned in her chair to face him, eyebrows raised expectantly.

Oliver cleared his throat. “I uh, wasn’t actually planning on bringing this up… I was sort of hoping you’d forgotten you said it, but—“

Felicity cut him off. “You’re asking if I’m staying? Even though we got Mr. Steele back?”

He nodded. She drummed her fingers on the armrest, the monitors behind her already running her searches – looking for any clue about the Undertaking, he belatedly realized. She didn’t look like she was planning on leaving but all the same he held his breath waiting for her answer.

“I know this is going to sound stupid, but I like it here. It feels sort of like a home. Not a very cozy home, but somewhere I’m comfortable. Somewhere I feel like I belong. And it turns out I like feeling like I’m helping make the city a better place; I don’t want to go back to my boring life. So I’m gonna stay. If that’s okay with you.” It was Felicity’s turn to look nervous as she watched his face for a response.

“More than okay.”

They smiled at each other again before each turning back to their work. 

\-------------

When her phone buzzed the next morning Felicity grinned as she read the text Oliver sent to her and Diggle.

“Big Belly Burger after work/before other work?”

She was surprised that evening when Oliver asked Carly to snap a quick picture of three of them at their table where Oliver had been stealing Felicity’s fries once his were gone.

When she arrived at the Foundry the next day Oliver and Diggle called out a greeting to her from where they were sparring with escrima sticks. Oliver never stopped, but shifted to his left so he could get a better view of her as she paused taking off her coat, then picked up the framed picture he had left on her desk. He watched her peel off the post-it note where he had scrawled “welcome home” and run her finger over the words before smiling and carefully sliding it into her pocket and setting the frame next to her keyboard. Diggle fully expected Oliver to block his next shot – if he had known Oliver was distracted he would have reined himself in (a little). But when Oliver saw the warmth in Felicity’s eyes as she handed him an ice pack for his bruised ribs he decided the distraction had been worth it.

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first time posting fic. I'm nervous but I'd love feedback!


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